My Bic Nova came loose in the bed of my van and slid into the rear doors, chipping off a quarter inch by 3-4 inch section of plastic right where the top half and bottom half meet. I see blackish grey stuff behind that.

I believe the construction, based on boardlady.com, is ASA plastic over non woven fiberglass over foam.

I used 2 part 5 minute epoxy from McMaster-Carr over the injury without any real prep work and it works for a time, but yellows and then peels off.

found this on surfer mag
You should structure repair it with epoxy resin, even though it's poly core (more flexible, stronger), then get a hot glue gun, low temp kind around 350 degrees, not the Ptex ski base kind and lay on beads, to be sureformed flush, then finished with progressively finer sandpaper until 120. No need finer than 120.

One other thing to keep in mind about epoxy. Most do not have UV inhibitors in them and they will turn yellow in the sun and then the bond will fail. System Three epoxy: has Sailboard and surfboard repair epoxy SB112 http://www.systemthree.com/store/pc/SB-112-c12.htm It's a good product to use on clear coated SUP and even painted boards. It's super clear and easy to use. Use a grams jewelers scale and you can mix small batches of epoxy with little waste. 100/44 by weight Resin/hardner. If your using the 5 minute Stuff Paint it with some Auto motive touch up paint. Good luck!

I have a Bic Nova 165 and had to do a small repair on the bottom when the board flipped over and was impaled by a fin on a nearby board. The damage was about a 2 inch long dent with a crack about 1 inch long. At the time I checked Bic's web site and found the following user manual: http://www.bicsportwindsurf.com/support/user-manual,21.html. The manual recommends using epoxy for the repair because the board contains an EPS core.

For the repair I used white Marine Tex which can be found at West Marine stores or on line. I carefully sanded the dented area to ensure good adhesion and to remove any wax or mold release chemicals that may have been present from the molding process. This may have been part of the reason that your previous attempt failed. I also lightly wiped it with acetone but I would use caution because you don't want to damage the EPS core.

After mixing and applying the Marine Tex I covered it with a piece of Mylar to smooth it but you can also use a small piece of a polyethylene (think zip loc bag) which would work better if you are wrapping the rail. After it cured I wet sanded the excess off starting with 80 grit and finished with 320. The Marine Tex color matches color of the board and you have to look very closely to even see the repair.

On the Bic Nova 120 which we used to have I used West Epoxy to repair a 2 inch diameter dent from when the board was dropped. The only reason I did not use Marine tex was that there was a V shaped crack through the skin about 1 inch on each side. I wanted to reinforce the area with a bit of cloth which the West Epoxy is more suited for. I cut away the loose piece leaving a triangular shaped hole. As mentioned previously the board has an EPS core but only with a single skin. I used a bit of resin thickener with the West epoxy so the resin did not soak into the core and then laid several small pieces of wetted out 4 oz glass cloth into the dent. I did add a bit of white pigment to the epoxy with hope that it would match the bottom but I ended up painting the spot afterwards. For small paint jobs I use Krylon white primer because it is easy to apply and wets sands very smooth.

For your application I would recommend using the Marine Tex approach because can be done in one step and the color matches perfectly.

Thanks folks, the wind was good today and I got impatient and used the 5 minute epoxy, but I tried to follow the directions above. I sanded before and after. One thing I did wrong was to apply too much at once. The epoxy bubbles and there's no way to get the bubbles out without leaving a void. Heat might have helped since it makes the epoxy more runny... Well when this repair peels off I'll use the proper marine stuff.

Fitek
You said the epoxy bubbles. Are you doing the repair in direct sun or after the board has heated up? If the board does not have a vent plug and you try to do a repair the epoxy will bubble or have pin holes, due to the board wanting to vent. So try to get the board cool and do the repair late in the day when the temperature is dropping and that should help with the bubbles.
Hope this helps. Mike

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